Action to End Modern-Day Slavery

Op-Ed by Frank C. Urbancic Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus | June 26, 2009

As published in Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot Newspapers (English Text)

Sadly, there are thousands who are trapped in various forms of enslavement here in our country... - President Barack Obama

For many people, slavery is a relic of the past. But in recognizing that modern-day forms of slavery exist in the United States and elsewhere, President Obama reminded us that no country is immune from the human traffickers who prey on the vulnerable. Trafficking victims in brothels, factories, and fields suffer abuses and exploitation at the hands of pimps and unscrupulous employers. Where there are people made vulnerable by poverty, disaster, or the breakdown of the rule of law, traffickers will follow in their wake.

Over the past decade, the United States has worked to raise awareness of this global trade in human beings. But this is not a new issue. Almost 150 years ago, the United States prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude within our own borders, and decreed that people were entitled to freedom as a fundamental civil right. In 2000, the United States updated its laws to cover more comprehensively the concept of involuntary servitude - when a person is maintained in service through force or coercion. Like U.S. law, the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, advances the notion that for an effective anti-trafficking strategy, victim protection is as important as prosecution.

Many of the best practices for serving victims and punishing traffickers flow from the experiences of survivors themselves. It is their stories that drive the United States' efforts to prevent the victimization of men, women, and children around the world. We must ensure that their stories are told.

We can never forget the words of a fifteen year-old girl from a case that was prosecuted in the United States. She told the Judge: 

I was so scared. I would try to hide from them so they wouldn't pick me. The Bosses told me I had to work and to stop behaving in this manner. Also, the Bosses would rape some of the other girls. This scared me. I was afraid they might rape me or hurt me in some other way. I didn't know anyone. I was alone.

Globally, there are countless people like her, who suffer in silence because they feel trapped and alone. If they think of police, it is often with fear, not with the promise of rescue. If they think of non-governmental organizations, it is as a safe harbor which they rarely know how to reach. Their path to freedom begins with the idea that they are not alone, that someone cares about protecting them and punishing their abuser.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made it clear that the United States stands ready to be a friend to the girl in prostitution, to the boy unlawfully conscripted as a soldier or forced to beg on the streets, to the servant trapped in the house, and to the laborers forced to suffer in the fields.

No country is immune from this scourge. Human trafficking exists in Cyprus as well. Twenty-year-old Oxana Rantchev left her home in Russia in 2001 for what she believed was a job as a translator in Cyprus. A few days later, she was found dead after attempting to escape the traffickers who tried to force her into prostitution.

Oxana's story is the story of modern slavery. Around the world, millions of people are living in bondage. They labor in fields and factories under threat of violence if they try to escape. They work in homes for families that keep them virtually imprisoned. They are forced to work as prostitutes or to beg in the streets. Women, men and children of all ages are often held far from home with no money, no connections and no way to ask for help. They discover too late that they've entered a trap of forced labor, sexual exploitation and brutal violence.

The United Nations estimates that at least 12 million people worldwide are victims of trafficking. Because they often live and work out of sight, that number is almost certainly too low. More than half of all victims of forced labor are women and girls, compelled into servitude as domestics or sweatshop workers or, like Oxana, forced into prostitution. They face not only the loss of their freedom but also sexual assaults and physical abuses.

Secretary Clinton recently released the ninth annual Trafficking in Persons Report. This report is not just an assessment of governments' efforts to combat human trafficking. It is a call to action. Countries willing to answer that call have a willing partner in the United States. The report is an effective tool in building consensus and collaboration with other governments to address root causes and emerging trends in human trafficking.

This year the Report casts additional light on subtle manifestations of coercion and contributing factors that underpin modern-day slavery, including fraudulent practices in the labor recruitment and migration process, and abuse of laws - such as immigration laws - to coerce and deceive workers into not seeking help.

For example, a woman without legal immigration status who works as a waitress can be pressed by her boss into prostitution under the threat of being turned over to authorities for deportation. A man who owes a large debt to his labor broker may feel he has no choice but to put up with abuse. The power of such threats may have been exacerbated by the global financial crisis, which threatens to claim even greater numbers of victims and stretch thin already weak structures that offer potential victims remedies from their involuntary servitude.

The United States stands ready to partner with willing governments, civil society, international organizations, and the private sector to leverage available resources and collective expertise to strengthen our response to those suffering in bondage. Their cries for help can no longer go unheeded. They demand immediate and effective action.